The invention described herein is an improved cutter bar. Conventional cutter bars, which are normally attached to any one of a variety of drive mechanisms such as motor mowers, tractors, motorised farming machinery and cultivators etc., find their usefulness in the gathering of grass or other kinds of forage from field or meadow. Such bars normally consist of a lower, stationary comb upon whose teeth a blade passes in alternating motion, the two components maintained in contact by means of blade-retaining brackets; the sliding action of the sides of the blade teeth across the sides of the comb teeth furnishes the actual cut of forage which becomes inserted between the two said components.
Conventional cutter bars currently in use show blade teeth fastened to a longitudinally disposed (bored out) rod which slides within a channel located in the comb body; the need arises for dismantling the blade--for whatever reason, e.g. sharpening--and the blade itself must be slid longitudinally with respect to the direction of forward movement of the machine to which the cutter bar is attached.
Since the upper side of the blade is provided with a forked device, or yoke, designed to accommodate the driven shaft-end whose oscillating motion is imparted to the blade itself, withdrawal of the blade necessitates removal of the blade-retaining brackets, as the latter constitute an obstruction to the above-mentioned yoke--hence an impediment in the way of satisfactory withdrawal of the blade. Dismantling and reassembly of the blade requires a considerable amount of time as a result of the above-described inconvenience.